Note-Sharing 2.0

I just read a fascinating article about a new web site you’ll want to keep an eye on. You can find the article here.

The site is called The College Freeway and essentially it allows college students to upload class notes, study guides, assignment sheets, even essays they have written. Other students can then easily access these files by first selecting the name of the school they attend, then either the department, course name, professor’s name, etc. They’re goal is to create an online “library” of academic content.

It’s a fascinating concept, though it raises some serious questions about academic integrity, cheating, copyright infringement…all that good stuff.

Coming from the perspective of a librarian pursuing another master’s degree, I can say that I could certainly see the usefulness in a site like The College Freeway. You could use it to scope out potential classes and the types of assignments and tests they have. Some students prefer essay exams, other prefer multiple-choice, and a site like this could help enable students to find classes and professors that suit their own preferences.

I could also see utility in having supplementary materials in help for test preparation. I’m a firm believer in regularly attending classes, but I’m a horrible note-taker. Someone elses notes could be beneficial.

Of course, I can see the potential detriments to The College Freeway as well. I’m not a big fan of having students upload essays they’ve written for a particular course, just so another student can pass it off as his own. It sounds like the site might strike some kind of deal with TurnItIn.com, which would be necessary to say the least.